“Beasts of Extraordinary Circumstance” by Ruth Emmie Lang

Title: “Beasts of Extraordinary Circumstance”
Author: Ruth Emmie Lang
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
Year: 2017
Genre(s): fantasy, contemporary, coming-of-age, some romance
Part of a Series: No
Rating: 

Why I read it: Once Upon a Book Club selection

Summary: Weylyn Gray is far from average. After being orphaned, he was raised for a bit by wolves. He’s always felt more comfortable with animals and has a special connection to them. Weylyn also appears to have control over nature itself – including stopping a tornado one Christmas. He travels the country and crosses paths with many people, amazing them and changing their lives. But he keeps himself separate from other people due to his powers, slowly learning that maybe he isn’t dangerous after all.


Review: I’ll be honest – it took me a long time to read this story and I almost gave up a few times. But those gifts are a pretty good motivator and I pushed myself through to the end.

My main issue with the book was that it kept jumping from character to character. It was a good idea but I fear the execution ended up hurting the book. While it was nice to see the multiple facets of Weylyn that way, the problem was that I felt I could never get engrossed in the story because I was too busy jumping heads. I wonder if it would’ve been better had Lang dedicated sections to certain characters rather than what usually amounted to very short chapters (the average seemed to be 3 pages).

And there were some very interesting characters. Lydia, Meg, and Mary were all very intriguing people who played large parts in Weylyn’s life (especially Mary). I would’ve loved to see more of them – especially Meg. We pass over a large swarth of Weylyn’s and her life with just a couple paragraphs. It would’ve been nice to see them a little bit longer.

Part of me also wonders if it would’ve been better not to have seen Weylyn’s POV until the end. It would’ve been nice to let us see him through the others who encountered him and all the amazing things he brought with him, making our own decision on if his powers are good or not – and forming our own opinions on the type of man he was.

Lang uses description to her advantage and it really bring her novel to life. How she describes the natural phenomenon that surrounds Weylyn, all the scenes in the forest, and so much more. I did enjoy those parts and wish we were able to see more it.

Bottom line: A good but choppy novel.
Sex: None

Moonlight Musing

Have you ever wished you could control the weather?